6 seamen cleared of drug raps in Turkiye

Ambassador Henry S. Bensurto Jr. and Consul General Shirlene C. Mananquil at the Istanbul Airport monitoring that the Filipinos have boarded the plane bound for Manila | Photo from Philippine Embassy in Türkiye Facebook

Six Filipino seafarers acquitted of drug trafficking charges in Turkiye were repatriated on Saturday, the Philippine Embassy in Ankara said. In a statement, the embassy said the seafarers spent over 11 months in detention before the Ereğli Criminal Court acquitted them and declared them innocent on Sept. 16.

Following the directives of Foreign Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega, a team led by Ambassador Henry Bensurto Jr. from the Philippine Embassy in Ankara, and Consul General Shirlene Mananquil from the Philippine Consulate General in Istanbul, assisted the repatriation at Istanbul Airport.

The officials ensured that the six Filipinos were in good condition before boarding their flight to the Philippines in the early morning of Sept. 28. “We are very happy that the court declared the Filipinos innocent of the charges and that they have been released in time to spend Christmas with their families back home,” Bensurto said. The embassy said they made representations to ensure that the seafarers boarded the plane without handcuffs. In October 2023, the six Filipinos, along with four senior officers of the Panamanian-flagged cargo vessel Phoenician M, were arrested on drug trafficking charges while the ship was docked at Ereğli Port in Zonguldak in the Black Sea. —JANE BAUTISTA